One underlying cause that surprises many women during treatment for an eating disorder is the relationship an adolescent girl has with her mother, according to Catherine Weigel Foy, a family therapist at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, a leading eating disorder center. Young girls suffering with eating disorders often think the physical aspects of their disease call for the most healing, but in most all instances, girls have to recognize the psychological and emotional damage caused by anorexia or bulimia, too…

Food presented in a virtual reality (VR) environment causes the same emotional responses as real food. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry compared the responses of people with anorexia and bulimia, and a control group, to the virtual and real-life snacks, suggesting that virtual food can be used for the evaluation and treatment of eating disorders…

The nutritional situation of children in Niger has deteriorated considerably in the last 12 months, according to the results of the annual survey on child nutrition publicly released this Thursday. The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF urge the international community to mobilize all necessary resources to enable them to protect and heal suffering children. The global acute malnutrition rate in Niger reaches 16.7 per cent for children aged less than five, a level far above the 15 per cent warning threshold and the 12.3 per cent rate estimated in 2009…

A nutrient that’s common to all living things can make hibernating marmots hungry - a breakthrough that could help scientists understand human obesity and eating disorders, according to a new study by a Colorado State University biologist. The study appears in the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology. The full paper is available at http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/213/12/2031. Professor Greg Florant discovered he could slowly release a molecule called AICAR into yellow-bellied marmots that activates a neurological pathway driving food intake and stimulates appetite…

This study formulates the hypothesis that rufinamide, a drug so far used against epilepsy, may also be effective in bipolar disorder, depressive and anxiety disorders, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. It is just an hypothesis based on two cases that needs to be confirmed by specific studies. Rufinamide is a triazole derivative indicated in the USA for adjunctive treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in children 4 years and older and adults…

The television news and entertainment media are missing the mark when it comes to communicating realistic and helpful information about health and weight to Americans, according to an expert media panel recently assembled at Pace University in New York City…

A new study finds that a self-guided, 12-week program helps binge eaters stop binging for up to a year and the program can also save money for those who participate. Recurrent binge eating is the most common eating disorder in the country, affecting more than three percent of the population, or nine million people, yet few treatment options are available…

They would love to be perfect mothers. Instead, they feel ashamed and inadequate, and fearful that their children might inherit their eating difficulties. Imagine an ordinary Norwegian home, where Mum is having dinner with her three-year-old son. Underneath the surface of this seemingly idyllic scene, the woman is fighting a fierce battle with herself, thinking: “I wish he could finish eating, so I can go to the bathroom and throw up.” This is just one of many real-life stories Kristine Rørtveit has listened to while working on her thesis…

UK psychiatrists have announced they are concerned about the harmful influence of the media on people’s body image and are calling for a new editorial code to stop the promotion of unhealthily thin bodies and making eating disorders appear glamorous. The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ (RCPsychs’) Eating Disorders Section said the media should be portraying images of more diverse body shapes and helping people feel positive about their bodies…

Several maladaptive eating behaviors, beyond anorexia, can affect women. Indeed, some 10 to 15 percent of women have maladaptive eating behaviours and attitudes according to new study from the Université de Montréal and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. “Our results are disquieting,” says Lise Gauvin, a professor at the Université de Montréal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. “Women are exposed to many contradictory messages..